The oil change is an interesting topic. The 300,000 mile truck guy was surely one of the luckiest men in the world. I used to have Pontiac that I would bring for all schedule maintenances and oil changes but after 85,000 miles there were so many little problems popping up everywhere that I have decided to get rid of it. The American cars were never known for their reliability but my friend's '95 Ford Escort has 280,000 miles on it and still works like a Swiss watch.
The 3,000 miles oil change is largely a creation of the oil industry, indeed. I believe that Toyota (and we can hardly say anything bad about the reliability of Toyotas and Hondas) recommends an oil change after the first 1,000 miles and then after each 7,500. Mercedes and BMW tells you to change only when their sensors go off or once a year. I've heard of a study which determined that with 10,000 miles oil change wear and tear is small enough that some manufacturers pick that over a more frequent oil change as a convenience for a customer. That said, every mechanical device will wear, and wear faster without a proper lubrication. Your hard drive's heads, platters, and electronics might work for a decade but its bearings will most likely wear out much sooner than that.